A variety of lifting and transportation devices for hospital beds are known. However, known problems with existing devices is their potential to topple forwards when the load of a bed and patient combination is significant or greater than a predetermined threshold. For example, if a patient carries significant weight, the skilled addressee would understand how this may cause a transportation device to topple forwards.
Proposed solutions to this problem include balancing the load of the bed using a ballast, and in doing so attempting to support the load more centrally over the bed mover chassis. However, for some bed-mover designs, such solutions are not appropriate.
Another problem that exists in prior art bed movers is that their jaw mechanisms, which serve to grip part of the bed, often fail to provide sufficient clearance beneath obstructions such as bed pedals, as well as mid-height obstacles such as bed brake pedals. The result is that the bed mover may not be universally usable. There are also inherent issues with existing jaw assemblies known to the Applicant in their inability to correctly engage a bed or part thereof prior to lifting, particularly when wheels of the item are being lifted and are not positioned exactly parallel with the centreline of the device.